20 After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and warned and consoled and urged and encouraged them; then he embraced them and told them farewell and set forth on his journey to Macedonia.

² Then after he had gone through those districts and had warned and consoled and urged and encouraged the brethren with much discourse, he came to Greece.

³ Having spent three months there, when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he resolved to go back through Macedonia.

⁴ He was accompanied by Sopater the son of Pyrrhus from Beroea, and by the Thessalonians Aristarchus and Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe and Timothy, and the Asians Tychicus and Trophimus.

⁵ These went on ahead and were waiting for us [including Luke] at Troas,

⁶ But we [ourselves] sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread [the Passover week], and in five days we joined them at Troas, where we remained for seven days.

⁷ And on the first day of the week, when we were assembled together to break bread [^[a]the Lord’s Supper], Paul discoursed with them, intending to leave the next morning; and he kept on with his message until midnight.

⁸ Now there were numerous lights in the upper room where we were assembled,

⁹ And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting in the window. He was borne down with deep sleep as Paul kept on talking still longer, and [finally] completely overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.

¹⁰ But Paul went down and bent over him and embraced him, saying, Make no ado; his life is within him.

¹¹ When Paul had gone back upstairs and had broken bread and eaten [with them], and after he had talked confidentially and communed with them for a considerable time—until daybreak [in fact]—he departed.

¹² They took the youth home alive, and were not a little comforted and cheered and refreshed and encouraged.

Psalm 31

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹ In You, O Lord, do I put my trust and seek refuge; let me never be put to shame or [have my hope in You] disappointed; deliver me in Your righteousness!

² Bow down Your ear to me, deliver me speedily! Be my Rock of refuge, a strong Fortress to save me!

³ Yes, You are my Rock and my Fortress; therefore for Your name’s sake lead me and guide me.

⁴ Draw me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me, for You are my Strength and my Stronghold.

⁵ Into Your hands I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth and faithfulness.^(A)

⁶ [You and] I abhor those who pay regard to vain idols; but I trust in, rely on, and confidently lean on the Lord.

⁷ I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy and steadfast love, because You have seen my affliction, You have taken note of my life’s distresses,

⁸ And You have not given me into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a broad place.

⁹ Have mercy and be gracious unto me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; with grief my eye is weakened, also my inner self and my body.

¹⁰ For my life is spent with sorrow and my years with sighing; my strength has failed because of my iniquity, and even my bones have wasted away.

¹¹ To all my enemies I have become a reproach, but especially to my neighbors, and a dread to my acquaintances, who flee from me on the street.

¹² I am forgotten like a dead man, and out of mind; like a broken vessel am I.

¹³ For I have heard the slander of many; terror is on every side! While they schemed together against me, they plotted to take my life.

¹⁴ But I trusted in, relied on, and was confident in You, O Lord; I said, You are my God.

¹⁵ My times are in Your hands; deliver me from the hands of my foes and those who pursue me and persecute me.

¹⁶ Let Your face shine on Your servant; save me for Your mercy’s sake and in Your loving-kindness.

¹⁷ Let me not be put to shame, O Lord, or disappointed, for I am calling upon You; let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol (the place of the dead).

¹⁸ Let the lying lips be silenced, which speak insolently against the [consistently] righteous with pride and contempt.

¹⁹ Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear, revere, and worship You, goodness which You have wrought for those who trust and take refuge in You before the sons of men!

²⁰ In the secret place of Your presence You hide them from the plots of men; You keep them secretly in Your pavilion from the strife of tongues.

²¹ Blessed be the Lord! For He has shown me His marvelous loving favor when I was beset as in a besieged city.

²² As for me, I said in my haste and alarm, I am cut off from before Your eyes. But You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried to You for aid.

²³ O love the Lord, all you His saints! The Lord preserves the faithful, and plentifully pays back him who deals haughtily.

²⁴ Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for and hope for and expect the Lord!

Psalm 32

[A Psalm of David.] A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem.

¹ Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is he who has forgiveness of his transgression continually exercised upon him, whose sin is covered.

² Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit.^(B)

³ When I kept silence [before I confessed], my bones wasted away through my groaning all the day long.

⁴ For day and night Your hand [of displeasure] was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the drought of summer. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁵ I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord [continually unfolding the past till all is told]—then You [instantly] forgave me the guilt and iniquity of my sin. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁶ For this [forgiveness] let everyone who is godly pray—pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely when the great waters [of trial] overflow, they shall not reach [the spirit in] him.

⁷ You are a hiding place for me; You, Lord, preserve me from trouble, You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

⁸ I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

⁹ Be not like the horse or the mule, which lack understanding, which must have their mouths held firm with bit and bridle, or else they will not come with you.

¹⁰ Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in, relies on, and confidently leans on the Lord shall be compassed about with mercy and with loving-kindness.

¹¹ Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you [uncompromisingly] righteous [you who are upright and in right standing with Him]; shout for joy, all you upright in heart!